Thank you @Sdel & @MHM! I will try to get through the highlights before tomorrow’s session.
Another thing I understand from attorney is that she would not only explain testing process, equipment, etc but also how the calibration was done and when prior to testing. The people who performed the task were also qualified by both sides so there were no questions raised afterwards. Probably a bit of a snooze fest to a lot of jurors but she felt it was important to do.
Knights Mom (sorry idk how to tag)
I used to think you were being over the top with your repeatedly bringing up the threats from Lk but after watching her admit, on the stand today, that she said she was literally trying to destroy MB and MHG business and farm and seeing how that turned out for them, I totally get now, why you were so bothered by that threat. I don’t blame you one bit. That’s scary.
Thank you.
Are there any other people who are schedule to testify on Thursday, other than LK?
Slogging through this afternoon’s court hearing . . .
Is anyone up to date on how many times and when LK and RG were asked to leave? I was under the impression from the threads here that LK had insisted she was never asked to leave. Am I misremembering?
Did not get an exact count of how many times they were asked to leave, but I think many were surprised to learn they were asked to leave as early as April 2019.
That allowed for months to find another place to go long before the shooting occurred. Many months.
I was struck by the fact that she had only started riding with MB the previous spring. So from start to finish, it was only a little over a year.
Thank you. It sounds like this was not a situation that went from great to gunshots in a week then.
I apologize if I missed this, but if the prosecution has rested its case, why did he not bring up the recordings of MB, MHG and RC plotting to kill LK? I thought LK said she had the murder plot recorded.
If these recordings exist, this should be the key evidence the prosecution would need to show it was all planned out and was not a case of self defense or insanity. Am I missing something?
Come on. A spouse is totally different than a parent handling the finances of a 40 something year old woman.
@eggbutt Sorry, I see you already questioned this assertion.
I would assume the recordings don’t actually say that. LK has said under oath today that much of what she put on social media was untrue, for effect only, and she cannot always recall what or why she said something.
Well I’m awake in the middle of the night for no good reason so I had a chance to watch the rest of the LK cross. Highlights from afternoon recess to end of day:
LK cross re: recording devices, first 30 min after PM recess:
Defense received 70+ recordings.
Yes there were conversations recorded to which LK was not a party, but never in the office or clubhouse. Device was in locker or their part of the house.
RG ordered the device on 7/31/19 and it arrived the next day. She believes there were two devices but she isn’t sure because she “wasn’t in charge of them.” RG was but they discussed it all mutually.
LK thinks you could delete things off the recorder, but their intent wasn’t to delete things.
When asked about her father JK, doesn’t really remember which of the lawyers said what about the admissibility/legality of the recordings. Hearsay objection and muted sidebar about legality of recordings; objection overruled. 8/2/19 text between JK and LK about admissibility mentioned, but no specifics. LK argues with Bilinkas about admissibility vs legality of the recordings.
LK and RG bought Blink video cameras to monitor house while they were away at Saugerties. 4/20/19 text between her and a friend: “Justin is a threat. A big one. We bought cameras last night at Home Depot to plant in the barn and in our apartment, so we can always see what Justin is doing and saying." LK says she lied to reassure the friend, and they didn’t buy cameras until months later.
Questions about MB’s knowledge of the recordings. She says she doesn’t know if he knew, but is assuming he did because she told the police. Back-and-forth about a text to JK saying she "confirmed for sure that they know we have a bug in the barn.” She says this means she told the police.
LK cross re: social media posts, 30 - 38 min after recess:
7/25/19 post: Called MHG a homewrecker, asked what’s to stop MB from “straying again,” and referred to MHG’s paranoia and jealousy. LK says she thinks MHG was jealous of a lot of people, including her. Later the post says “It’s war.” Post also refers to “extra stories could only be heard in a recording or video to be fully believed” but LK says this doesn’t mean that there are recordings, only that they would only be believed if there were.
LK cross re: living arrangements, 39 - 49 min after recess:
When asked if she was paying rent, LK says it was a barter agreement. She was paying $2,500/mo/horse for two horses in training + $30k or $40k to buy a horse that LK was riding (JT?), who MB was unable to sell due to shivers and Cushings + RG’s work on the house + a third horse and fourth horse that were going to come for training. Father JK was part of the negotiations. It comes out of her money and JK writes the check. JK gets the money “from the bank.”
LK says RG was part of the arrangements from the beginning; Bilinkas asks if she ever told prosecutors he wasn’t and she doesn’t recall.
Two muted sidebars. Judge cuts off some of the questioning about financial arrangements due to relevance.
LK cross re: social media posts, 50 min after recess - end of day:
LK FB post accused MB of committing insurance fraud re: water damage in house.
LK FB post accused MB/MHG of threatening her “life and livelihood” by badmouthing LK/RG to other barns/trainers while also telling them to leave. LK then says MB/MHG stalked her old FB posts and contacted people she had disputes with up to 5 years ago. Some discussion of USEF, SafeSport, etc.
LK says MB texted someone that he was going to ruin/destroy her life, and the recipient posted it on Twitter.
Asked whether she ever posted anything on FB about MB/MHG and then deleted it, LK says deleting posts is “more of a Mary Haskins thing.”
8/6/19 FB post re ultimatums given by MHG and others to MB in private conversations recorded from her locker. Post calls MHG “spiteful, adulterous, and insecure.”
So, this mostly just seems like LK has issues with MHG that mainly stem from jealousy. It just all seems so catty.
I wonder if anyone sees this as two women in a man’s life (one he’s romantically involved with) being catty/petty/fighting and he gets caught in the middle. This then drives the man crazy (along with some other things).
So, really portrays females and female equestrians in a nice light. Some might just chalk it up to “rich girl privileged problems”
I’m not hugely surprised that LK would be treated differently. MHG was MB’s romantic partner and a rider of a different caliber. I know for sure that my BO, a man, treats his partner, who is also a pro, quite differently then the clients in the stable because that’s…wait for it…normal. They share a different and closer relationship. No one can buy their way into that.
Plus you have to work your way into things and earn respect, it takes time. Living on the property is way too involved for me, and I think when people do this they expect different treatment and privileges. Their expectations are different, which to some extent is fine.
Of course none of this excuses or justifies shooting someone, but there just seems to be a lot of pettiness and misunderstandings throughout the whole relationship (between LK, MB, and MHG). I don’t know what kind of “threat” JH posed. Mental health issues were also a factor.
Well, doesn’t the saying go something like this….”If I can’t have them, then no one will…”
No, it isn’t. Boarding barns get a stable man’s lein on the horse. Much like an auto repair shop can hold your car until payment is made. I ran a boarding barn for 40 years. I had to call the police three times to hold horses on premises until payment. They explained to the boarder that my signed boarding agreement spelled it out clearly. At least in MA.
Oh this reminds me…I forgot about MHG (and maybe MB?) allegedly wanting some of LK’s horses so this is also why they had to off her.
Agreed. This alleged contention will be hard to sustain in the face of the threats made to posters on this BB about their posts being ‘actionable’, and FB posts like the one someone posted here in which LK demanded of her attorney father ‘acknowledge this treat immediately!’ when someone merely observed that her behaviour would not stand her in good stead on the show circuit. She will have to choose now: was she lying under oath when she said she believes SM posts are no big deal and cannot be taken seriously, or will she insist she can continue to threaten suit over SM posts she doesn’t like b/c SM posts are a big deal? Whic is it - cannot have it both ways?
FWIW, I did not believe when I saw that testimony that she lied to you. I think she didn’t want to admit how long before the shooting they actually had begun planning/making the illegal recordings. Seems easier to say, ‘oh, I lied to this person I just said was my great friend’ rather than saying ‘I haven’t been truthful about all the recording devices and when and where I got them’. I don’t think details like Home Depot, etc. would be included if it was just a lie to you so that you would not worry.
We understand now that one of the statements was a lie: the one on FB or the one on the stand. Once someone admits, under oath, to lying, literally everything they have said and posted heretofore and hence is now completely unreliable in my view. Just my opinion, but I don’t think the lie was the one told to you.
Remember how upset Lauren was when I opined that her call to SafeSport led to CPS being summoned? The screen shots are in my earlier post.
Did anyone notice she kept saying that MB ruined “her livelihood” by calling other barns and warning them about her? Isn’t she an Amateur?
I don’t recall that exactly, but totally believe you were excoriated for something that later turned out to be true, even by certain posters who knew it to be true.
Speaking of: didn’t a couple people read about the herion issue in the civil filings and mention it here? Were they not then pounced upon by other posters and accused of all kinds of skullduggery? And when they pointed out that they were only referring to info in the civil filing, was it not then asserted repeatedly that attorneys are lying bottom feeders who put all kinds of things that aren’t true in civil suits? And was it not further asserted that those lawyers have some protection for the ‘false statements’ they make in such civil suits but that no one else was thus protected and therefore allowed to rely on that information to defend themselves from accusations of libel/defamation when discussing same in the context of an on-line true-crime chat?
And was it not just testified to be true - under oath?
This is just one example of why it is and was nonsensical to vilify people for discussing aspects of this case, particularly aspects which appeared in various court filings, in a true-crime discussion.
FTR, I did not, myself, bring up this particular point, so this is not a CYA. I did watch it play out on here, though, and it was really unfair to attack posters who discussed this and other information from the civil filing.
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